One particularly important function implemented by many conventional two-dimensional (2D) image editing programs is the identification and/or selection of a portion of a scene for image manipulation. As is well-known, programs like Microsoft™ Paint and Adobe™ Photoshop include various tools for selecting portions of an image. Rectangular and elliptical marquees enable a user to select a portion of the image having a rectangular or elliptical shape, respectively. Another common selection tool implemented by Photoshop and other image editing programs is the magic wand tool, which allows a user to select a particular pixel and select other pixels in a contiguous region that are similar in color to the selected pixel. Yet another common tool implemented by many image editing programs is the lasso tool. The lasso selection tool enables a user to draw a freehand (or polygonal) shape around a portion of the image. The lasso selection tool, therefore, enables a user to select portions of the image having an irregular shape.
More recently, stereoscopic images are used to provide a three-dimensional representation of a scene. Each stereoscopic image includes an image pair, where the scene is captured from the left-eye viewpoint to produce a left-eye image and the scene is captured from the right-eye viewpoint to produce a right-eye image. An object that appears to a viewer at a particular depth is located at a (x,y) position in the left-eye image that is different compared with an (x,y) position in the right-eye image.
Conventional techniques for selecting and manipulating objects in a conventional two-dimensional image do not necessarily function properly for editing and manipulating stereoscopic images because there are two images and the objects being selected and manipulated are at different positions within each of the images. Thus, there is a need for selecting of objects within stereoscopic images that addresses this issue and/or other issues associated with the prior art. Thus, there is a need for addressing this issue and/or other issues associated with the prior art.